SC asked to declare appointment of BTA members as unconstitutional 

A group on Monday asked the Supreme Court (SC) to declare as unconstitutional the current appointments of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority (BTA), which resulted in the loss of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front's (MILF) majority lead.

In a 57-page petition, petitioners Saiden Abdulwahab and Zacaria Tuan asked the High Court to enjoin President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to appoint members of the BTA constituting the lead of the MILF leadership.

Lawyer Badrodin Mangindra, their legal counsel, said that Article XVI, Section 2 of the Bangsamoro Organic Law states that the MILF shall lead the BTA without prejudice to the participation of the Moro National Liberation Front.

Mangindra explained that the parliament is composed of 80 members all over the region. He said that only 34 MILF members were appointed.

“Seven of them — ‘yung 41 sana to constitute the lead in the BTA were not appointed by the president. In fact, they were being replaced,” Mangindra said in an interview.

“We just want the Court to declare the replacement of the seven… unconstitutional because that is actually interfering with the internals of the regional government, which is not supposed to be done,” he added.

He said that the MILF-endorsed members should be at least 41 for their legislative measures to prevail.

“Ngayon, karamihan sa kanilang mga measures ay hindi nananalo. Talo sila sa districting, talo sila sa budgeting,” he said. (Now, most of their measures are losing. They lost with the districts, the budget.)

Mangindra also stressed that there is currently an “internal dispute.”

“‘Yung mga kasama nila sa MILF parang may konting problema. So nagkaroon ng internal ngayon na parang dispute sa organization because of these appointment [officials],” he said.

(Their companions in the MILF seem to have a bit of a problem. So there is now an internal dispute in the organization because of these appointments.)

In March, Malacañang announced the list of newly appointed members of the BTA.

For its part, Malacañang previously called on the MILF to give the new leadership of the Bangsamoro Region a chance.

The respondents are the Office of the President, represented by Executive Secretary Ralph Recto; the BTA, represented by Hon. Abdulraof Macacua as interim Chief Minister of the BTA; and Speaker Mohammad Yacob.

GMA News Online has asked Recto, Press Undersecretary Claire Castro and BTA Chief Minister Jaber Macacua for comment and will post their responses as soon as they are available. —LDF, GMA Integrated News